The sun had not yet risen when Onewhisker felt a prod at his side. His eyes open, blurry, as he looked into the face of Barkface. The brown tom nudged a piece of fresh-kill towards him. "Eat. You'll need your strength." The tabby looked over at the she-cat beside him, and saw that she was asleep - a few scraps of fur and bones to show that she had woken long enough to eat a mouse. He nodded to the medicine cat and began eating the mouse that Barkface had brought him.
"Did she sleep the whole time?" Barkface wondered, going over to sniff at the she-cat. "Morningflower told me she'd taken her a mouse when she had woken up, but she didn't speak."
Onewhisker shrugged, licking his muzzle to clear of the remainder of his meal. "It was just after Tornear and Mudclaw returned that she went to sleep. She was... very angry, to say the least."
To his surprise, the medicine cat nodded understandingly. "She has lost much recently. She has a right to feel that way." Before Onewhisker could reply, Deadfoot padded over, his limp a little more pronounced. Before the deputy could get a word in, Barkface immediately turned to him. "You're foot is troubling you. I'll fetch you some herbs to help."
"I'm fine, Barkface. You know it just plays up every now and then," the black tom mewed, turning to look at Thrushwing. "Best wake her up. Tallstar's said we're to be leaving before sunrise."
"Where will we go?" Onestar pricked his ears when he heard Morningflower questioning Ashfoot, who was looking down at her sleeping kit between her paws. Since the gray queen was clearly not going to answer, Tornear padded up and rested his muzzle comfortingly against the tortoiseshell's shoulder.
"Where ever we go, I'll protect you," he promised quietly, and Onewhisker averted his eyes. He knew he was probably not meant to have heard that, so he pretended as if he hadn't.
A quiet yowl came from the back of the cave, and each cat turned to look at their leader, who was standing on a small pile of fallen rock. His black-and-white pelt was blotted with shadow, but Tallstar's voice rang out, clear and strong. "Cats of WindClan, we have been driven from our home, but we are not defeated. We will not simply die off, as Brokenstar wishes. We will survive and find a place to make us strong again, so that we can soon return to retake our territory. It will not be tomorrow, or even next moon, but I know we will return to the forest."
He looked around at his clan, his amber eyes glowing defiantly, as if he expected them to challenge him. "We will go to a field, on the far side of the Twoleg's nest not far from here. It is wide, and abundant with prey. We will leave as soon as every cat is ready to travel." And with that, he padded off and left the cats to make ready for their journey, going over to Barkface, Deadfoot, Onewhisker, and the sleeping Thrushwing. "Is she well enough to travel?"
Barkface dipped his head. "I believe so. She's rested, eaten, and her wound hasn't reopened. I'm not sure how fast she'll be able to go, with her injured leg, but I'm sure she'll keep up."
"I can help her," Onewhisker mewed quickly, blinking at Tallstar. "I've kept up with her so far, I can do it until we reach our new home."
"That is a very honorable offer, Onewhisker," Tallstar mewed, proud of this young warrior for wanting to help his injured clanmate along. "Well, best get her up and moving." And with that, the black-and-white leader, along with his deputy and medicine cat, walked away, leaving Onewhisker to his task.
"I don't need it," the tabby turned to see Thrushwing glaring at him, defiance in her blue eyes.
He wasn't confused as to what she went, but decided to ask anyway. "Need what?"
"You're help, furball," she spat. "I can take care of myself."
"I don't think so -" Onewhisker stared back at her, but she didn't let him finish, standing up and testing her weight on her three legs, while keeping her injured foreleg close to her chest.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "See? Perfectly fine." She began hopping towards the entrance, but Onewhisker followed her.
"Look, I'm not exactly thrilled about this either -"
"Then why are you here?" She interrupted, turning to glare at him. "I don't like you. Plain and simple. I can walk, I can talk, and I can breath on my own. I don't need you." She continued to hop towards where the clan was gathering at the mouth of the cave.
"Well, Tallstar and Barkface obviously think different," Onewhisker felt his fur bristle as he followed her.
The she-cat stopped, her eyes hard. "Well, then, they think wrong. I'm not a weak elder, you know."
"I know you're not," Onewhisker sighed. "But if you tried to make it on your own you'd just re-injure yourself, if not make it worse, or permenant. The clan needs you healed as soon as possible, and the only way for that to happen is if you just accept my help."
Thrushwing glared at her paws in silence for a moment, and Tallstar's yowl signaled them to leave. She looked up at Onewhisker, and though he could still see relunctance, he could tell what he had said had sunken in. "Fine," she mewed quietly as the cats brushed past them. "But don't expect me to be happy about it."
Onewhisker blinked, but purred quietly, offering his shoulder for her to lean on. "Of course not."
----
"What happened next?" Sedgepaw asked, his eyes wide with excitement.
"Well, WindClan went to the twoleg field, of course," Morningflower purred.
Sunpaw's eyes were narrowed thoughtfully. "Tallstar sounds like an awesome leader. I mean, we've heard many stories about him, but... in this one he sounds even better."
Webfoot bowed his head. "Tallstar was a great leader."
"One of the best these clans have seen," Tornear purred strongly.
"But Onestar's a great leader too," Swallowpaw mewed, looking to her leader.
Onestar purred quietly, but his eyes were distant as he answered. "I'm glad you think so, Swallowpaw, but I'm sure I'll never live up to Tallstar's legacy."
"You sound awesome in this story too, even though you weren't Onestar then," Thistlepaw meowed. "You were very nice to help Thrushwing, even though she didn't like you."
Morningflower mrrowled with laughter. "Didn't like him? That's an understatement, young cat."
"Get on with the story," Webfoot meowed gruffly. "And tell them about the day after we arrived at the field."
"Oh, great StarClan," Onestar closed his eyes. "Please don't."
"Was that an order?" Morningflower's eyes sparkled with mischief.
"It's an important part of the story, Onestar. She can't skip it." Tornear's voice was teasing, and his shoulders were shaking slightly from silent laughter.
Ashfoot, who had been sitting silent for a while, sighed. "Oh, come now, you three. It isn't right, the way you're teasing and laughing at our leader." She gave them a glare, but they could tell she wasn't serious.
"Please tell us, Morningflower!" Sunpaw cried.
"Yes, please!" Sedgepaw, Thistlepaw, and Swallowpaw all struck up.
"Alright, alright, settle down," the old tortoiseshell purred. "Well, we'd made it to the field without incident by a little before sunset. It was getting dark, and we had just found a suitable place to sleep for the night. All the elders had already settled in, along with Ashfoot and her kit and myself, and Tallstar was just getting ready to send out a few patrols to find food and make sure we were safe..."
sorry guys for the wait, and the length of the chapter. but... don't expect the next to be up any faster. unfortunately, i'm having to give up a lot of my time, which means even less time for fanfiction. so, i'll be leaving for an unknown amount of time. there's a longer explanation on my profile. i'll try to write, i promise, but don't expect anything. sorry, guys. bye for now.